Silver Days
by BlackOrchid918
Summary: A series of montages providing an alternative look at the Silver Millennium's unexplored mysteries, its people and its eventual downfall. Beryl/Endymion, Serenity/Endymion, Pluto/Endymion.
1. Beryl

I am not a goddess, nor royalty. Nor a woman who forgets...easily.

I was born to a hardy working woman and a soldier in the Earth's army. He left us after his unfortunate liaison with my mother had run its course. It was no great romance. My mother cleaned rooms at the local inn. He was in town, stationed with the rest of his men. They were drunk. Mother raised me with the help of her mother, an arch-witch who still practiced the old ways and was all cotton candy hair and white witchery. I loved them both very much.

This was a time when the old ways were dying. Being uprooted by astronomy and men of science, who'd recently discovered through meticulous observation, a kingdom on the far side of the moon. Grandmother spoke of such a land to me, often right before setting me to bed when I was a child, and though it sounded like a mere child's tale, she insisted it was real. As she told it to me, many had forgotten the visitations from the "Gods," as they were called during that long-gone Golden Age. Grandmother told me, the Silver Lady, so named due to her hair color possessed the most powerful magic of them all and so, reigned chief among them. She used to visit the Earth, trying to impart upon our people the wisdom they lacked...but...something went wrong. The people's petty jealousies caused battles to be fought over the gifts she'd bestowed. Seeing this, the Silver Lady retreated from the Earth. Leaving our people one last gift - a haze that clouded our collective memories so that we would not waste our lives seeking that which we'd lost. It was as if what was real had been rendered a mere dream, in the span of a single night.

Grandmother and a few other wise women and sages suspected, and half-hoped, the Silver Lady would return one day when we were more "evolved" and wouldn't war over the gifts she brought with her. I must confess that a part of me resented this. Who were they to say whether or not we were evolved enough? Seeing Grandmother's admiration for them, however, I often restrained myself from posing the question during her re-telling of the story. According to Grandmother, they would let themselves be found again and, indeed, it seemed as though that were now the case, what with all the recent breakthroughs our scientists were making. The witches, like my grandmother, were viewed as eccentric relics from the past. The memories they retained due to their own magical natures, were seen as fanciful myths by most of the faithless hordes in today's society.

Still. I knew it was all real...and I believed.

I was something of a fanciful myth myself. I had been born male-bodied, but slight of build with naturally long ringlets of ebony hair and skin whiter than the first snowfall of the year. My mother, seeing I was a delicate sort, left the hard work of the fields to whatever paramour she had at the time as I remained indoors with my grandmother, listening to stories and learning of the old ways - the ways of magic. I was 'gifted,' Grandmother had said and I also knew this in my heart to be true. She was grooming me to follow in her footsteps because mother never had a knack for that sort of thing, having been born with a head for more practical matters. Mother had named me 'Beryl,' the same name as the heirloom stone earrings that were once my Great-Grandmother's. Though it was a female name, Mother insisted on it, saying it marked me as a treasure. Her treasure, as valuable in her eyes as those earrings, which were priceless.

As I grew, I unsurprisingly donned the skirts of a mystic. People like me were revered in the old times and being a mystic came natural. I could manipulate the subtle energies of the universe, bend them, supplicate them, warp them to my will. I made my living by peering into the lives of others...their fortunes, their futures. I cast love charms and hexes, sold amulets, stuck poppets and brewed potions. Before long, I'd become renowned, renewing the science-hardened people of my world's faith in the old ways. Well...some of them, at least. My predictions and witchery were spot-on and would usually succeed where other measures they'd taken had failed. It was at this time, amidst the turmoil of discovering a new land on another world, that the Royal Family sent for me.

The Queen was a paranoid woman governed by fear, but she allayed it daily with empty gossip and whatever the latest fad was. Her husband and son were often away on campaigns or embroiled in some affairs of state. I'd become something of a local celebrity in the capital city and was enjoying every minute of it. Still, I couldn't help but feel like a novelty sometimes; useful, but only for the moment. Intriguing...but not for always. While casting runes for the good Queen one day, I met the Prince. I'd say he was a few years younger than I, but he was a beauty. Tall, broad-shouldered, with the same grey, almond-shaped eyes as his mother and black, glossy hair. I was in love from the moment we were introduced. I was using herbs to retain my feminine beauty well into my adulthood, but still found myself wondering if that were enough. For a woman like me, born anomalous, into the role of shaman...could my dreams ever come true? Surely a dashing young prince like Endymion would want someone not just desirable, but of dignified bearing. Someone who could fulfill the role of Princess. Someone who could provide him an heir. Not just some glorified gypsy boy dressed in women's garb.

I made frequent visits during the day, making sure to ingratiate myself with the Queen, always telling her just enough about the future to keep her in need of my continued services. Once I came upon the Prince alone. We talked. Well, he talked. I was so dumbstruck, I could barely stand. I knew there was a spark of something. I felt it when he looked at me. I saw it. So, I did what any witch would do. I decided to take it. I cast a love charm so intense that I was hardly surprised the next time I paid her Highness a visit and the Prince invited me to his chambers for a reading of his own. Before long, we were sneaking off behind corridors, into the garden maze, the grotto. But I knew it couldn't last, for though these times most anything went, a love like ours with a woman like me could only exist as a passing caprice, the same as the romances between soldiers or boyhood friends. I didn't want it to end, but it did, just as I knew it would. Endymion turned his love towards one of the silver-haired lunar strangers. People were calling them angels, "guardian angels." How pathetic.

I confronted Endymion, but he just apologized and told me that the love between us must remain a lovely memory, nothing more. He'd found something "new and deep and real...and beside all that, his relationship with the Princess might be used to form an alliance with the Moon Kingdom and that's what really mattered. The good of the Empire." I scoffed and turned away. I was a flight of fancy, a distraction...and so were my love charms apparently, the hold they had over him clearly weaker than whatever this...fixation of his was. I wanted so bad to be the Princess, the Queen he needed and desired. To never have been born in this flawed, unnatural body. For though it gave me great magic and the respect of millions, I saw now that it could not bring me love...at least, not in this life.

Then one evening, hope burned bright once more. During my vespertine meditations, I made inadvertent contact with a solar spirit. A curious thing, I'd never made contact with such a distant force before. Typically I could only sense the vibrations of those around my immediate area. I wanted to know more, so I channeled the Spirit into me. As the Spirit filled my body, I asked it questions about the universe's mysteries, the Moon People and what their intentions were. I scrawled its responses down without thinking on a piece of parchment. After the Spirit had departed, I passed the rest of the night and early morning reading these revelations, fruitlessly hoping the distraction would drive Endymion from my thoughts. It didn't. I'd had power that was different from the rest of my clan and, indeed, even the rest of my people, but this! This was the power of another world. I began to think what all that power could do where my own spells and enchantments had faltered. What heights I could reach. Bearing this in mind, I struck a bargain. The Spirit wanted entrance into this world, using me as a host. I wanted Endymion, body and soul.

"Done," it had said.

"Would I still be me?" I'd wondered.

"Of course," it had murmured into my thoughts.

"I just want to be able to feel life again. Experience sights and sounds and feelings. I've been displaced among the stars for so long. Cast away from the world of men. I'd be with you, but behind your own psyche, Beryl. I'd remain unseen and after a time, depart."

I pitied the Spirit and envied it at the same time. To never feel love is an awful curse, but to never feel the sting of rejection...well, there could be no higher blessing, could there? I welcomed the Spirit - whose name I could not pronounce, but which I approximated as 'Metalia,' into the very depths of my soul. It would only be for a little while, after all, and Metalia vowed to stay secluded in a tiny corner of my mind, not interfering or overlapping with any part of who I was or what I felt. It just wanted a chance to breathe again, to get out and take a ride. My body would be its vehicle. I could respect that. In exchange, its power would grant me the attention of Endymion. I couldn't help but notice in the weeks that followed, however, that my body began to change. It was more shapely, more womanly. My once dark hair, lightened somewhat, possessing a burgundy sheen now. I felt a little ill at first, I'm sure owing to the complexities of bearing another soul within one's own. My skin went from porcelain to sallow, my eyes became like pools of blood. My nails hardened into talons. I burned inside and never slept. Apparently, Metalia required no such thing. I began obsessing over what was taking so long. Why was Endymion not fawning over me when I went to the palace? Why had he not yet forgotten about that drippy-faced, little albino already!

My jealousies seemed to make Metalia's presence within me more powerful, which in turn fueled even stronger feelings of bitterness perpetuating the whole bilious rondo within my mind over and over again. Until one day, when it all just fell together. If he couldn't be mine, I'd get his attention some other way. I'd start with his friends, use my influence within the Royal Family to turn them all against him and this ridiculous union with the silver-haired interloper. I'd strike the match and fan the flames from the inside. Then, when the moment was right, I'd seize him from her and cast her away into oblivion! Ha...little fool, you don't know what you've walked into.

There's venom in my fangs girl, the real kind, the kind that kills.


	2. Metalia

I'd succeeded. The little man-woman was easy to manipulate with all of its insecurities. But then again, most humans were.

I felt the sheer rapture of the world again through Beryl. But I could not remain within her for long, though the physical changes that swept over her were becoming permanent from my little visits. Still, she was too weak to contain me. I needed energy. It was what I was accustomed to. From my place within the hearts of man, I was fed by the collective fear of millions and mankind's own desire for self-destruction.

The divine rush of it all. The ecstasy. I would spend my life, for it was an eternity, trying to regain that. Pledging to destroy that damned crystal. It lay now with her great-granddaughter. Had it been that long ago? All these things happen again and again. But given enough time, everything decays, even white magic can fall into ruin, and its hold on me be loosened.

These silver-haired whelps' lifespans, though long, were a mere drop in the bucket to me. I would outlast all of them, every last one. After all, I was a force of nature. A force that would never again be denied. My powers grew stronger as the moon people forgot about me, thinking me long-gone and filling their frivolous days with wine and festivities. They were drunk with stupidity.

Such fools they were. To bring them to ruin would be child's play.

The Earthlings were easy to manipulate, fair game for things like fear and madness...and love. Or more accurately, obsession. Beryl's magic seemed to broadcast her tortured thoughts to me, making her heart that much easier to seize hold of. And how convenient, she was in such close proximity to the Royal Family, who would soon be in close proximity to the Silver Crystal. I knew it. I could feel it.

My chance was here. I'd be where I belong once more, and overtake everything and everyone. This time I would not be subdued. Utopia's are so overrated. The Earthlings fear change, some of them even loathe it. By playing on the Earth Queen's fears about the Moon People, I'd secure Beryl her own permanent guest-suite as personal advisor. No longer would she be a visitor for she'd be on-call at all times and I'd be able to wait...and to watch.

I can see her feelings bubbling black every time the little Prince comes around. In fact, I can see it all so very clearly. Beryl would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. And I...I would be free! Hahahahaha...ahahahaha!


	3. The Heavenly Kings

Venus and Mercury were paired with Kunzite and Zoisite, who truly seemed more interested in each other. Venus seemed crest-fallen. Despite her staunch attitude as leader of the Guardians, one could tell she nursed a not-so-secret admiration for Endymion's right-hand man.

This alliance banquet was a noble effort to familiarize the two Royal Families with each other and expand on their existing relationships, but the four Guardians' escorts were not at all like the men they were accustomed to, who usually fell to their feet in adoring awe.

Well, Nephrite was, but he apparently had the habit of falling in love with anything that moved. His buxom companion, the Lady Jupiter, seemed to reciprocate his feelings for she too suffered this fault.

It would make the beginning of a lovely relationship, for tonight at least, when the liquor-laced declarations of love carried the two all the way up to the boudoir.

Mars hated men, everyone knew that she found them useless and would much rather spend time with her handmaidens, Phobos and Deimos training or engaging in archery or some such business. So, she didn't seem to notice or even care that Jedite, her companion for the evening, seemed more entranced by the Earth Queen's latest find, the mystic Beryl than with her.

Jedite was from the far east and as intense as the Asiatic Sea that wrapped itself around the Eastern Quadrant he presided over back on Earth.

Nephrite, an earthy, burly man from the Western Territories had his pick of the litter and knew it.

Kunzite was from the Southern Regions where the dunes of sand swirled as ceaselessly as lovers' secrets.

Zoisite, Kunzite's very own 'lovers' secret,' was from the northern ice-lands. He only thawed for Kunzite and the Prince.

The four had been committed to this dinner by their prince, but none really wanted to be there, except maybe Nephrite for the aforementioned reasons. Zoisite wanted Kunzite badly, so badly, but refused to be caught in such an undignified state. He sucked an ice cube, knowing it would turn the tables on Kunzite making him the hot and bothered one.

Mercury shyly looked away, while Venus helped herself to an extra glass of wine.

Jedite had been doubting all the promises the Moon Kingdom was making. He also hated how damned perfect they all were, how long-lived. It bothered him and didn't seem...natural. Their arrival seemed almost too good to be true. Curing disease, ridding the world of war and famine and poverty. What did they want in return? Beryl encouraged him to see through the gilded surface. They had to have underlying motives for their benevolence. What were they?

The Moon was small compared to the Earth, it was less rich in natural resources. Could that be their reason for sending the Princess to entangle herself with the Prince? Or perhaps it was a full-scale invasion they had planned. Jedite pondered Beryl's suggestions, the ones she let spill out in the afterglow of bedroom talk.

He didn't trust these Moon People. Not one bit.

"To our friends...the People of the Moon!" The Earth king bellowed, as each knight drew his sword in praise.

Zoisite raised his rapier. Kunzite, his scimitar. Nephrite, his broadsword. Jedite, his katana.

Little did they know, those very same swords would soon be raised again, not in exaltation but in something altogether quite different.


	4. Princess Serenity

I began to play my harp for them all.

But not really.

It was for him, all for him. And tonight, I would show him.

Just then, a loud clanging. Was it? A tambourine?

The beautiful gypsy girl, I could tell she was drunk, she had begun banging a tambourine. My fingers faltered.

"Oh, Princess, I'm sorry! You don't mind, do you? I thought the people might find a duet much more interesting than a...solo, don't you agree?"

"Quite," I responded as I smiled faintly.

Endymion frowned. I could sense how embarrassed he felt. I knew Earth people tended to be a bit...bawdier, or so Mother had told me. So I tried to grin and bear it, but though the harp remained unplayed, the strings within me quivered violently.

"Pardon me," I said as I retired to the lavatory to gather myself once more.

"Excuse her please," I overheard Jedite as he led the gypsy called Beryl away from the table.

"I think Beryl's a bit...tired."

"Get her to bed, will you Jedite?" The Earth King asked.

"Certainly, Master."

I watched them traipse up the stairs towards one of the guest rooms, then splashed some water onto my face. I didn't care so much about what happened just then. I only hoped in my heart that if I ever got that drunk, I'd have somebody to carry me up the stairs.

That's when I saw Endymion leading Pluto up an opposite staircase.

"Endymion?"

"I'm just setting her up in the guest room. Seems the wine was a bit strong tonight."

I smiled weakly.

"Yes, seems so."

"Are you alright? I really must apologize about Beryl."

I waved his concerns away.

"No, no...please don't spare it another thought. I'll wait for you down here in the parlor."

"My feet have wings," he beamed.

He held Pluto's arm around his neck as he led her up. Suddenly I wished that I had drunk some of that wine. Just to be so close to him. No longer courting, revolving around one another like distant stars, but close enough to kiss, to explore.

The Guardians were Sailors of the Stars and I'd always found the chronicles of our mothers' adventures so fascinating and yearned for the day I'd get to strike out on my own, to explore and discover like they did. But even now, as the new generation was being groomed to succeed the last, I couldn't help but realize that those dreams seemed so unexciting now. The only uncharted territory I wanted to map out was Endymion, all of him.

Tonight. It would be tonight. My love could wait no more.

Just then, Venus brushed past me. She held her Guardian duties too seriously. I must admit that sometimes she could be a little creepy, the way she shadowed my every step.

"Ah, Venus!"

"Princess. I don't mean to intrude or overstep my boundaries, but I wanted to take a moment to tell you to please...be careful."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you and the Prince are more than just friends. Everyone knows you've begun to court one another. And though many think it a show of good-will toward our new allies, I want to make sure you're not doing this for the wrong reasons."

"Oh Venus! You shouldn't believe all that you hear."

"I don't, but where you are concerned, I make it a point to remain informed. It is my duty, as the Chief Guardian and as your friend. There's still so much we don't know about these people and how they've developed in the years since our initial departure many decades ago. Their ways, their customs. A great deal hinges on this alliance, it would be a boon to both our kingdoms, but don't allow that to sway you into waters that are still...mostly uncharted."

"I won't make a mess of things Venus, and I'm not doing this for political reasons. I'm, well...I'm quite fond of him. Who better than the Guardian of Love can understand that?"

She smiled and I wrapped her up in my arms.

"Okay. I trust you. Don't blow it!"

And at that moment, I really hoped I wouldn't.


	5. Queen Serenity

The banquet was...an experience.

The Earth People are indeed still rather "salty," after all this time, but I feel we made the right decision in initiating contact or rather, allowing them to. These nightmares, this sense of dread, of death, of helplessness. The thought that maybe too much has been pinned on the Silver Crystal already - our lifespans, our riches, our power. That it might fail us in the days to come. I can't escape it, I felt the time for allies, the time to work as a unified whole might be now.

I can't afford to lose all we've worked so hard to build. I hope I'm up to the challenge. My life has been tranquil enough. I caroused throughout the galaxy in my younger years, sailing the stars with my friends...but I never had to fight, like my great-grandmother had. There was no need in the ensuing centuries that followed. I had never been called on to make a sacrifice. We live in peace. Now I've settled into the role of beneficent monarch, loving mother...widow.

We lost my husband a few years ago to an illness even my crystal could not heal. At least that's what I'd told the masses and Serenity. You see, in a paradise like the Silver Millennium, ennui was one of the only maladies we had to contend with, especially we Royals at the top of the top. He had literally become bored to death. He was an adventurous man who did not take well to the life of a King. He wanted to explore the next terrain, the next page of his existence and didn't want to wait the typical thousand years afforded to we People of the Moon. So he killed himself.

I'd tried to use the Crystal to save him, but he refused it, with every fiber of his being. He said this was what he wanted. He'd always been intimidated by the Silver Crystal, our national treasure, and by extension I'd felt he was also intimidated by me. I think he couldn't take living what he saw as a listless and empty little life under the shadow of the Great Silver Queen.

The poor soul. He was a good man. Despite our arranged marriage, I really did grow to love him. Serenity adored him and after the devastation of his loss, I've tried my best to appease her in every way I can.

So, come tomorrow, I would have a discussion with the young Lady Pluto. I saw how she and Endymion stared at each other from across the banquet table. And I also know how my daughter feels about that young man. I will not allow her happiness to be taken from her a second time. It is the beginning of a new age, besides; an age where true love should rule instead of antiquated notions like arranged marriages.

I want my daughter to be happy. Pluto would merely be fulfilling her Plutonian duties, only much more strictly.

Anyway, I did have cause for fear, so her penalty would not be entirely without justification. These damned nightmares, this sense of dread. It had to be looming on the horizon waiting to strike at any moment. Waiting in the wings, but where? And when?

Better to take extra measures and kill two birds with one stone, as the Earth saying goes. I can only hope that should that dreaded day ever arrive, the Earth people will prove just as "salty" on the battlefield, for all our sakes.


	6. Uranus & Neptune

"It had all happened so fast. We were called in to battle the Earth Kingdom's invading forces."

"Technically, it didn't fall under our jurisdiction, being an internal conflict, but the second we'd received the call, we both knew the gravity of the situation. Battles of this magnitude trump all technicality."

"My heart cried out in pain when we'd arrived, seeing the four fallen guardians. They were all so young!"

"They were all so careless, you mean! I knew security was lax, since the Queen assumed we could afford such laxity in times of peace, but to be taken down so easily by such...primitives. It was a disgrace! Instead of throwing parties and toasting a still-shaky alliance, they should've been bolstering their defenses."

"Against what, Uranus? How were they to have known? From what I'd heard, everything was going well. We'd been present at the banquet with everyone else just weeks ago and nothing seemed amiss. The people of Earth seemed to genuinely want peace. Had Queen Serenity moved to strengthen our defenses, we would've appeared menacing and confirmed their fears that our intentions were less than noble. We are far more advanced than they...we had to set a precedent."

"For what? Foolishness? Venus should have trained her women better. Jupiter should've been stronger, Mars more cunning. And Mercury! She should've seen through this from the beginning."

"There's no sense in blaming them, Uranus. It's over. The Princess has killed herself. The Earth Prince lies defeated by his own brethren. Hordes of enemies advance as we speak."

"Damn it! We should have been here sooner! All this damn bureaucracy, this pomp and circumstance. Formalities barring our involvement and see what all that has brought us?"

"Regret is senseless now."

"But revenge is not!"

"All we can do is try to hold out until Queen Serenity makes her move...try to turn the tide."

"They're coming, Neptune. Stay on guard!"

"Deep Submerge!"


	7. Pluto

Here I stand with nothing but my thoughts and a door to so many other places and times that I'll never get to see.

I was no fool.

Serenity did this because of what happened that day at the banquet to celebrate our alliance with Earth. She must have seen how we looked at each other. And how he'd helped me to my guest quarters after I'd become tipsy from the strong Earth wine.

She probably went crying to her mother like the little brat she was. Ever the doting mother, our honored Queen made sure her precious daughter got what she wanted, by removing me. Such an easy way of doing things. No hassle, no contest, just...banished, so that a path could be cleared and little Princess Serenity could get what she wanted. Surprise, surprise.

No Guardian of Pluto had ever been subjected to the limitations forced upon me by the Queen in all of history. My own mother told me not to question the Queen and to be dutiful but I saw, even in her face, the wrinkle of confusion.

The Queen had said she felt an impending danger, though she knew not from where. Since negotiations were proceeding so well with the Earth Kingdom, it seemed they'd finally evolved to a point where peace could be attained between our two Empires and we could approach each other on equal footing as allies. She told me that she didn't want this newfound spark of progress to be extinguished by whatever hysterical fear she claimed she could sense. I was ordered to keep fervent watch over the Gates of Time and Space because the threat may come from outside the dimensional divide.

I acquiesced. Of course, I did...she was the Queen and had the Silver Crystal, how could I not?

So I stayed at the Gates of Time and Space, locking away my life and waiting for a threat that never came.

The days bled into one another and I found myself questioning my own reasons for obeying this ridiculous decree. My family honor was staked on this duty, I could not fail them. I had to keep reminding myself of this. In time, it became my mantra.

But at the same time, I was young, too. Perhaps a bit older than the Princess and her friends, but still in my prime. I began to hate this shadow-life that had been hoisted upon me.

I'd stalk the corridors of my isolated home, peer through the veil at life on the outside. Train for a while, send for food when the pantry waned, write letters, accept visitations from Mother and Father whenever they were available and not embroiled in some courtly duty themselves.

So...when it happened. When the great calamity struck down the Moon Kingdom and rendered the Silver Millennium a distant memory, I did just what the Queen had implored me to. I stayed at my post. Always. Without question. The Crystal would make things right again, I was sure. We'd been told it always did.

And maybe when things were better again, I could leave, be happy, see him once more.

Live.

Until then...I had nothing but time. Time to think, time to wonder...maybe even, time to forgive.


	8. Luna & Artemis

"Are the preparations complete?"

"Yes, my Queen, they've been gathered."

"Thank you, Luna. Artemis, report."

"More casualties...Uranus and Neptune. They managed to repel a great many, but ultimately they were overtaken."

A steely determination arose within my Queen's voice, superimposing the tones of anguish.

"Very well. Have them brought forth as well. Assemble their bodies in a circular formation."

"My Queen, what will we do? Our kingdom is in shambles."

"I am aware. There seems to be nothing we can do. Perhaps if I hadn't sent Pluto away, I could have persuaded her to stop all this before it started."

"And die in the process?"

"Artemis, don't question our Queen!"

"Better one life than the lives of so many! Oh my precious daughter. I...I apologize for losing my composure, Artemis. All hope for today is lost, all that remains is the morrow, and the dawn that climbs from the wake of this night. The blackest night I have ever known."

"What do you intend to do, your Majesty?"

"I intend to use the full power of the Silver Crystal to send my daughter into a brighter future...where conflicts like these should be no more. I mourn my own foolishness, my laxity, my trusting nature."

"It is not a bad thing...to trust."

"It is, Luna! It is...when you trust that a few decades alone would be enough to civilize these humans! And here I thought I could find allies in them...that they'd help us fight some unseen danger. How was I to know that the danger lie within their very hearts! Still, I never imagined them to be so barbarous as to bite off the very hand that fed them."

"What about him?" asked Artemis as he pointed a paw towards the Earth Prince.

"He evolved. He understood. He loved. Isn't one man better than nothing? Isn't it a beginning at least?"

"Perhaps so, Artemis. And for my daughter's sake, I hope it will be enough in the years to come. I know she loved him very much. If I can give her a token of my love, then let this be it."

"My Queen, if you use the full extent of your power, you'll..."

"I know, Luna. But look around. What else is there to live for? It's all gone."

"But Queen Serenity, you've always preached of hope and love and renewal. Perhaps we could rebuild somehow, or start over somewhere else, or..."

"Luna, she's made her decision," Artemis whispered gravely.

Just then, one of the last surviving members of the Royal Guard brought in the bodies of the Ladies Uranus and Neptune.

"Lay them with the others, please," Artemis ordered before dismissing the guard with a nod of his head.

"Luna. Ours is an era that has ended. Even if I had the strength to rebuild, what would it be for? The shine of the stars grows dim and even a paradise can become an endless torment when spent in solitude. Now. You be good, my cherished aids. I must sacrifice my life force to send you all forth into new lives. If conflict, for whatever reason, seems unavoidable once more...I trust you two to arm my girls well. Prepare them better than I. But most of all, watch over them, guide them and make certain they are all happy. This is my prayer. By the light of the Silver Moon...close this circle, end this strife! May a new cycle begin...in another time...another life!"

The light emanating from My Queen was blinding. As I turned to face Artemis, his white fur blended into the white light all around us.

"See you on the other side, sexy," he said as he winked at me.

My eyes widened.

"Ar-Artemis!"


	9. Saturn

I arise.

It is done.

I must sweep away the ashes and usher in a new era.

All that was can no longer be.

What is a kingdom without its king?

Those who have managed to weather the storm are remnants of a fallen world.

The poor dregs. They should not be made to suffer so, drowning in memories of a shattered time.

I will end the misery of hate.

Close the curtain on this dark day.

Glaive to the ground.

A revolution...without a sound.


End file.
